Adamant: Hardest metal

IMPERFECT IDOLS

By Alexandra Olson <a href=www.sun-sentinel.com>The Associated Press Posted May 11 2003

CARACAS, Venezuela · Venezuelans have long practiced novel versions of the Afro-Caribbean Santeria faith, whose local pantheon includes 19th century South American liberator Simon Bolivar.

But there had been nothing like the newest icons at Santeria shops: criminals who are legends in Caracas slums. The foot-high statuettes, sporting guns and knives poking from jeans pockets, represent spirits trying to repent for their sins by warning youngsters to avoid crime, helping people get out of jail and curing drug addiction.

There's Kid Ismael, a bank robber who some say killed dozens of people in the 1970s before police gunned him down. His statue wears a baseball cap sideways, smokes a cigar and clutches a .38-caliber pistol.

The likeness of Kid Isabel, a prostitute and thief who died of venereal disease in her 20s, wears sunglasses, a tight pink T-shirt showing her bellybutton, a ski hat over blond hair and a knife in an ankle pocket.

These spirits are part of the 200-year-old sect of Maria Lionza -- the basis for Venezuelan variations of Santeria, a faith that emerged in Cuba when African slaves began blending Yoruba spiritual beliefs with Roman Catholic traditions.

A beautiful Indian woman from the western state of Yaracuay, Maria Lionza presides over various courts of spirits. Original Santeria deities such as Eleggua, the Yoruba god of destiny associated with St. Anthony, belong to the African court. Another court includes Simon Bolivar, who liberated Venezuela and other South American nations from Spanish rule.

Kid Ismael and Kid Isabel are members of the corte malandra, or criminal court.

The Catholic Church frowns on the following of Maria Lionza but long ago abandoned efforts to eliminate it. Her supplicants come from all classes, especially the poor. The size of the sect isn't known, though each year hundreds of thousands of people trek to Maria Lionza's reputed home -- Sorte Mountain, 180 miles west of Caracas.

Shopkeepers say malandro statuettes began hitting the shelves two years ago. Malandros as spirits surfaced in the early 1990s, along with a rise in crime, said anthropologist Patricia Marquez, academic director of the Institute of Higher Administration Studies in the capital.

"For the upper classes, the malandro personifies the growing threat of urban violence. In contrast, in the slums, the figure of the malandro oscillates between hero and villain," Marquez writes in a chapter of the book 20th Century Venezuela, published by Fundacion Polar.

Many shantytown residents seek protection from malandros, dominant figures who controlled turf and commanded respect and fear.

Most malandros were killed by police or rival gangsters in the 1950s, '60s and '70s. They are viewed as folk heroes -- Robin Hoods who stole for the poor and protected neighborhoods. "Ismael robbed, but it was to help the neediest," said Juan, a mechanic shopping at a downtown Santeria shop.

Juan said he bought an icon of Ismael, the most popular malandro, after the spirit persuaded his son to "stay away from bad neighborhoods."

In contrast, Marquez said, the upsurge in crime has few people romanticizing the current crop of criminals as good guys. "Among other things, the corte malandra reflects nostalgia for that supposed malandro of the past, the one that protected the neighborhood," she said.

As with other spirits in the sect, malandros are thought to give counsel through mediums known as santeros.

"Things were different back then. Not as many people had guns. We mostly used knives, and we never killed anybody just for kicks," said Saul Abache, a medium channeling the spirit of 1950s outlaw Armando Cedeno.

Opposition attempts to convince Group of Friends at the Brazilian Embassy CCS 

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Thursday, May 08, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

Miranda State Governor, Enrique Mendoza and former Presidential Secretariat Minister (under President Rafael Caldera), Asdrubal Aguiar have paid a visit to the Brazilian Embassy to hand a letter to that country's Foreign Minister as member of the six-nation Group of Friends, insisting on the need to seek an electoral solution to the Venezuelan crisis. 

Speaking on behalf of Coordinadora Democratica (CD), Mendoza says the recall referendum is the solution and the CD wants the group to ensure that nothing is altered. "We insist that the date, laws and other legal instruments be respected ... the Group must monitor that nothing changes." 

Aguiar insists that the government-opposition negotiation process must continue and that transfering the forum to the National Assembly won't work ... "there are no conditions in Venezuela of institutional normality, political normality or social normality." 

A lawyer, Aguiar highlights current criminal violence, which he says shows severe explosive conditions in society, owing to the absence of mediating institutions ... "it's a picture that the international community cannot ignore."

Interests in common partnership between Venezuela and Brazil

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Thursday, May 08, 2003 By: Jeremy Le Page

US YellowTimes.org correspondent Jeremy Le Page writes: As Venezuelans feel sharp economic strains following a recession from more than a year of political conflict, a commercial alliance is being sought between President Hugo Chavez Frias and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Reports indicate the two leaders are pursuing a partnership between state-owned oil firms -- Petrobras (Brazil) and Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) ... both men say the neighboring countries have "interests in common," when it comes to the oil industry.

The alliance will secure cooperation in the oil sector for development, refining, commercialization, exploration and production of petroleum products.

Hopes are that the alliance between the nations will help the staggering Venezuelan economy. Many US experts are now suggesting that Caracas' economy is now "stable" when compared to previous months. Last year, Venezuela's oil output was reduced to 200,000 barrels per day ... operating at full capacity, the country is the 5th largest producer in the world.

But many Venezuelan groups say violence is again on the rise.

This follows a May 1 shooting spree in Caracas which resulted in the death of a man involved in an opposition march. Chavez Frias has since said the violence was the latest attempt by his opponents to overthrow his rule, while anti-Chavez supporters claimed the President's government was responsible for the shooting.

COFAVIC human rights group says violence is growing in Venezuela ... they state that 57 people have been killed and more than 300 injured since last year's failed coup ... almost all the killings remain unsolved.

Many of the anti-Chavez military that helped organize last year's coup d'etat have been seeking asylum in other South American countries. Meanwhile, the US is still pushing for a new election in the country.

Following consultations with the Organization of the Americas (OAS), the White House has said the best way to resolve the crisis in Venezuela is to hold early elections ... the next general election is currently scheduled for 2006.

What's wrong with a recall referendum for ALL elected officials prior to the Presidential one?

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Wednesday, April 30, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

Historian and political analyst, Jorge Olavarria continues his crusade to get the opposition united and behind the recall referendum. This time he attacks Coordinadora Democratica (CD) leader and Miranda State Governor Enrique Mendoza for "short-sighted strategy." 

Olavarria says he doesn't understand why the opposition has not responded more quickly to the government's counter-proposal regarding the recall referendum.  The government's answer, he says,  is reasonable and constitutional and there is no reason why the opposition should NOT sign it, as it stands. "There can be no argument justifying Mendoza's stubbornness." 

Examining the government's counter-proposal, Olavarria suggests a hidden agenda on the part of some opposition leaders. The government's answer to clause 12 of the agreement, Olavarria notes,  is to widen the recall referendum to all elected officials once they reach half-term in office. 

A stickler for legal detail, Olavarria sees Mendoza's posturing and threat to abandon negotiations as childish...

The opposition, he insists,  sees a double threat in the government's proposal:

  • The government is requesting recall referendums for all opposition State Governors, including Mendoza and Metropolitan Mayor Alfredo Pena before Chavez Frias recall referendum comes up

  • There is a precedence to hold all the referendums requested or to be requested, which will be regulated according to the date they were requested. 

Olavarria welcomes the idea of a recall referendum for all elected officials, since some opposition State Governors are far from saints and he  asks what is the problem, if they take place before the presidential recall referendum. "If Mendoza and Alfredo Pena have to go through the referendum process it could be a testing ground for their Presidential aspirations ... the recall referendum cannot be revoked but it can be lost and the way Mendoza and others are acting, they will lose."

PROVEA: workers lose out ... AN ignored temporary provisions to cover forced lay-off payments

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic news Posted: Wednesday, April 30, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

Venezuelan Human rights group PROVEA  has taken on the National Assembly (AN) for not implementing a transitory regime after promulgating the new Social Security law (LOSSS) on December 31. 

PROVEA HR Defense Area coordinator, Marino Alvarado says the group will lodge an appeal at the Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ) asking it  to fill the legal void. 

Alvarado  points out that the AN has not listed corresponding percentages to employer and worker's contributions under the concept of forced layoffs aimed at helping a worker who has been laid off from work. 

The law also ignores other accumulated benefits, Alvarado claims,  and it means that the worker is exposed to abuses because there are no legal obligations forcing an employer whether public or private to keep up with payments. "The principle of progressiveness of human rights, the right to social security and the principle of inalienability of worker's rights are under threat."

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